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Friday April 16 , 2021

Health Ministry identifies COVID hotspots

DRUG SMUGGLER GET 71-YEAR-OLD CANCER PATIENT DIES IN SOPHIA FOUR YEARS JAIL AS A BIRTHDAY GIFT FIRE

SIR CLIVE TAKES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST GUYANA CHRONICLE

Guyana Post Friday April 16, 2021

Health Ministry identifies COVID hotspots

As Guyana continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Officials have identified some areas in Region Four as being COVID-19 Hotspots.

Those places, according to the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, are Diamond, Herstelling and Eccles,

East Bank Demerara; Kitty, Campbellville, South Rumiveltd, Lusignan and Good Hope, East Coast Demerara.

“In Region Four, there are some areas that we have seen persistent cases. So, on the East Bank, we have had for a number of weeks

now cases in Diamond, Herstelling, and Eccles.

“In Georgetown, we have been seeing Cases in Kitty, Campbellville, parts of South Rumiveldt…

So, these are the areas in Georgetown we have been seeing cases. And, on the East Coast, we have seen cases in the

71-YEAR-OLD CANCER PATIENT DIES IN SOPHIA FIRE

A 71-year-old, Sophia battling stage 4 Cancer has become Guyana’s latest fire fatality The dead woman is Vanci Hodge. She is suspected to have died of smoke inhalation.

According to reports so far, the fire started around 1 PM on Wednesday in the Squatting Area, ‘B’ Field Sophia after the neighbour’s house caught

fire.

At that time, Hodge was asleep. She was later rescued from the house and was breathing well but had inhaled a lot of smoke.

The woman was later escorted for further medical evaluation but she began having difficulties breathing. Hodge passed away en route to the hospital.

The fire has left 16 persons homeless. All of those affected are asking for assistance to rebuild since according to most they have no clue how they can start over.

Lusignan, Good Hope area.

“We are getting a number of cases, but across the East Coast, across Georgetown, across the East Bank there are more cases,” Minister Anthony said.

Dr. Anthony added that while there may be cases in a lot of villages,

in these stated areas there are a large number of cases; that is alarming.

Those cases according to him came to go up to 15 infected people per village.

In the past, the Ministry would have sent out mobile testing units. Those won’t be sent at those time.

Instead, Dr. Anthony now insists that persons should take up the responsibility to protect themselves.

“Testing would assist us in knowing but what is more important is that people take precaution.

And, those precautions will include that they will have to continue to wear their masks and ensure that they keep their distance. We have been talking about this,” Minister Anthony said.

Minister Anthony said

that he knows a lot of people are fatigued but it is a way of saving lives from a deadlier strain of the virus. No one is safe from the virus.

“I think a lot of people are fatigued, and they believe that somehow over the last year or so they haven’t gotten infected; that whatever behaviour they are practising that they are somehow invisible to the disease.

“This is not so. If you are taking a risk in not wearing your mask and social distancing and doing all the wrong things, at some point, you are going to become infected.”

He said citizens must understand the serious nature of the disease after seeing more deaths, more hospitalization, and more infections.

Drug smuggler get four years jail as a birthday gift A man nabbed by Immigration Officers with over four pounds of Marijuana on arrival at the Cheddi Jagan International, Airport, earlier this week, was today, on his birthday, slapped with a four-year jail sentence along with a $1.5 Million fine.

The Convict 50-yearold, Joel Cadogan, who is a dual citizen, was on the way back from America.

Today he appeared before Magistrate, Judy Latchman, and opted to plead guilty to the charge.

Cadogan was arrested on April 12, last, at CJIA with 2.036 kilograms of marijuana and in court today, he opted to take the road of not wasting the court’s time and pleaded guilty.

An attorney representing the accused

said in mitigation that Cadogan has not wasted the court’s time and in fact, today is his birthday.

The birthday gift turned out to be a four-year jail sentence along with a $1.5 M fine.

According to reports coming out of Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit, Cadogan, who was an incoming passenger at the time at CJIA. He had in possession three large suitcases when he was subjected to a random search after he had cleared

immigration.

During the search, four compressed plastic parcels of cannabis were wrapped in jeans were found in his luggage.

Further checks were made and several pairs of sneakers were also found stuffed with numerous small empty Ziploc bags and a tabletop scale.

With the discovery being made, Cadogan was later handed over to CANU where he was detained and further questioned.

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Guyana Post Friday April 16, 2021

SIR CLIVE TAKES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST GUYANA CHRONICLE

Sir Clive Lloyd

West Indies most successful Test captain, Sir Clive Lloyd, has taken legal against the Guyana Chronicle for an article it published

earlier this year.

The article titled, ‘Holder has outlived his usefulness in the position, says Lloyd’, carried a statement

West Indies captain six years ago, and the two have publicly spoken about their cordial relationship.

Sir Clive’s Attorney, speaking on the Mason and Guest Radio Show in Barbados Tuesday evening, touched on the matter and the next course of action.

“It is with great honour that I am representing Sir Clive Lloyd in association with Guyanese Counsel.

We are pressing ahead with that case on behalf of one of the great West Indians of the last 100 years,” Thorne said.

“This case will be pursued with vigour to its very logical end, and

attributed to Sir Clive, but his Attorney Ralph Thorne, QC, is claiming the legendary cricketer never spoke to the reporter.

The article, published on March 13, 2021, claimed that Sir Clive had reportedly said Jason Holder, who was earlier this year relieved of the West Indies Test captaincy, had “outlived his usefulness in the position.”

Sir Clive subsequently stated that he never spoke to the writer, as he debunked claims made in the article.

It was under Sir Clive’s tenure that Holder was appointed

we will insist in a very public forum and in a very public manner that justice should come to Sir Clive Lloyd.”

Appearing on a Mason and Guest Show after the article was published, Sir Clive declared: “Never said anything like that! I find it so disrespectful that people can do as they like, put your name to something and say you have said that. No, that is wrong! I have never said anything like that!”

The Chronicle subsequently retracted the article and issued an apology to Sir Clive.

Meanwhile, Thorne labelled Sir Clive a

West Indian hero, and the article is most “unkind” to the legendary Guyanese.

“You’re not going to meet a more distinguished West Indian than Sir Clive Lloyd, and therefore newspapers must be very careful how they portray our heroes.

Sir Clive Lloyd is a West Indian hero, an authentic West Indian hero,” Thorne stressed.

Sir Clive Lloyd is one of the most respected former cricketers.

Apart from his success in leadership in the Test format, he led West Indies to 50-over World Cup successes in 1975 and 1979.

Volcano devastates St Vincent, Guyana rushes to help an ally

Adam’s Note Book

St Vincent and the Grenadines is all but wiped out. La Soufriere volcano erupted toward the end of last week and sent thousands of people fleeing the island.

Weeks before, the island was warned that the eruption was imminent.

The extent of the eruption was undetermined.

When the eruption came the government had already taken steps to remove the people who lived close to the volcano.

And with good reason because on Monday, the last eruption was so huge that it killed whatever existed there. Fortunately, there have been no reports of human fatality.

St Vincent is a small island with a population of just over 110,000. Of that number, many are info@guyanapostonline.com

Guyanese—some 4,000– who being the migrating people they are, left to go live on that island.

The island population is smaller than the population of Georgetown—perhaps the size of Kitty and Campbellville.

The St Vincent government sent out appeals to neighbouring countries for help with accommodation.

Even those islands that are equally small have been approached to help take in people. But for how long can they accommodate the displaced people of St Vincent?

These displaced people have to be fed and housed.

Yet not one country declined the approach for help. At last count, about 20,000 people had to be

accommodated, some with relatives and friends on the island. Cruise ships that can accommodate as many as 5,000 people have been deployed to the island.

Prime Minister of the island, Ralph Gonsalves, meanwhile, has put out calls for food, equipment and just about anything that people would need in the face of the disaster.

Supplies have begun to pour into the island and these have to be stored.

Perhaps they would be redistributed to those locations and countries that are housing the displaced St Vincentians.

When the earthquake hit Haiti way back in 2010 the devastation was unimaginable.

Countries raced to provide

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emergency supplies to the extent that boats and planes transporting those supplies had to be turned back. The ports were full as were the airports.

St Vincent does not have any port as big as those that exist on Haiti.

One can imagine the likely pile up unless there is a massive coordination effort.

Some people discussing the situation said that the volcano could not have come at a better time to save Ralph Gonsalves.

A few days before the eruption, he announced that his government would have had a hard time providing salaries for public servants.

That in itself would have provided hardships for the residents. Heaven knows what the reaction to the Gonsalves Government would have been.

Gonsalves can be assured of massive support from Guyana. In the wake of the March 2, 2020 elections he came out boldly to advise David Granger to take his licks like a man.

For that, the Irfaan Ali government is extremely grateful. No amount of support would ever be too much on the part of Guyana.

And while Guyana is racing to provide support to the stricken island, Barbados, which has also been carded to provide support, has been affected by the volcano. Slightly more than 110 miles separate the two countries.

According to reports, ash from the volcano began to blanket parts of Barbados. The southern side of the island was reduced to perpetual night. The plume from La Soufriere blotted out the sun. But the ash on the streets and the houses is the most inconveniencing.

Yet that cannot be too bad. The reality has hit home when one realizes that water is now priceless.

Almost all the drinking water on the island has been contaminated. So cooking has become something of a luxury.

In Guyana, COVID-19 has kept our children out of school. In St Vincent,

while there is COVID, there is now the volcano.

That is called a double whammy. The people must be wondering whether the end of the world is nigh because it is not often that disasters of those magnitudes would hit people like that.

That is why people always say that Guyana is a blessed country.

There are no hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Yet for all that, countries afflicted by those disasters often rebound to rebuild their economies to levels that surpass Guyana’s.

The harsh reality is that Guyana has politicians whose combined efforts appear to be worse than the earthquakes, the volcanoes, and the hurricanes.

People ask why this is. The answer lies in the fact that there is so much hate among the politicians that they do not have time to think about national development. They just think about destroying each other and whatever comes in between.

28 COVID victims die in last two weeks

Twenty-eight Guyanese have succumbed to COVID-19 so far for this month. Four people died over the past 24 hours.

Yesterday alone after the earlier announcement of two deaths, the Ministry

of Health reported two more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) died. This takes the total number of deaths from the pandemic to 262.

The latest fatalities are

two males, a 76-yearold from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and an 86-year- old male from Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice). They both died while receiving care at our medical facility.

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